Marine Academy
Part 3
Chapter 22
"Prepare the blood bags and IVs on the stretchers! Arrange all the sterile equipment and turn on the oxygen concentrators! I want to see a mountain of sterile bandages and absorbent pads on each stretcher!"
The doctor shouted her orders in the utter chaos in the emergency service lobby.
The entire hospital had been emptied, chronic patients moved to hospitals on the nearby islands.
For the first time in decades, the Grand Hospital of Marineford was empty of any patients, and an army of doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists and surgeons stood in front of the huge emergency service entrance.
"The ICU will go to the first floor, the trauma to the second, the cardio to the third, the pneumo to the fourth, the palliative care to the basement and all other non-urgent cases will be taken directly to the top floor. The emergency service is requisitioning the entire ground floor, is that clear?" Murphy's voice echoed in the fully prepared hospital.
Only the three giant screens on the emergency entrance courtyard broke the tension. All eyes were focused on the screens, watching these thousands of soldiers ready for war against Emperor Whitebeard.
A shiver ran through Murphy's body when she saw on the screens the three admirals sitting patiently. She could see her husband's closed face.
And she was afraid. Afraid for him. Because as powerful as he was, facing Whitebeard's crew was madness.
Afraid for all the soldiers present on the battlefield. A majority of them would end up in her hands or those of his colleagues in the best case if they did not go straight down to the basement in the morgue.
Fear for her, to be one of the pillars in charge of saving the wounded soldiers. All the doctors had been ordered not to treat any pirates. In any case, she knew perfectly well that none of them would be taken to the Grand Hospital. They would be left for dead on the battlefield until their last breath, in the most total indifference of Justice.
A breath passed through the crowd of caregivers gathered in front of the entrance. Whitebeard had just arrived. The last caregivers redoubled their efforts to prepare all the operating rooms. They had to act quickly, the war was beginning.
It took half an hour before the first wounded arrived in a cloud of screams and cries of pain. Some caregivers had run away when the immense tsunami caused by the emperor appeared behind the screen. The wave was so immense that Murphy could see its peak from the Grand Hospital. She too had thought that they would all be swallowed up before they could even treat the first patients. But Aokiji had done his duty.
"I have a fractured right tibia, frostbite on right arm, significant pulmonary gritting and cardiac arrhythmia box 1!" His colleague had yelled at the medical team to join him as the first patient entered the box.
Their fight was also about to begin. A dozen stretchers arrived in a few minutes in front of the emergency service doors, greeted in an unspeakable chaos by the caregivers.
"Multiple chest fractures, unconscious for three minutes, pulse racing."
"Third-degree burns on 65% of the body surface, excessive sweating, barely conscious."
"Constricting pain in the chest that migrates to the arm, difficulty breathing, saturation at 89%."
Chaos had invaded the Grand Hospital barely half an hour after the start of the Great War. Between the screams of patients and caregivers were mixed the screams of agony of the fighters a few hundred meters in front of them on the main square of Marineford.
Murphy could only see the sky which was reflected in yellow rays, lava and blue reflections in the ice that covered the ground.
"Monkey D Luffy has freed Portgas D Ace!" The soldier's cry froze all the doctors.
They could not lose this war. Whitebeard could not invade Marineford. No soldier in this hospital would be safe anymore.
The first high-ranking officers began to arrive after barely an hour, after having faced the emperor's commanders.
While Muprhy was urgently operating on dozens of soldiers, she remained attentive to the noises in the corridors. Sakazuki and Kuzan didn't seem to be in trouble, none of the admirals had arrived at the hospital yet.
"Akainu killed Portgas D Ace!"
The doctor's heart skipped several beats. Her mind was completely panicking, losing track of her operation. He had killed him? He was a pirate, a condemned man, so it was normal, right? But what had he felt when he had slammed his fist into that kid's chest? Had he had at least a little remorse?
"The pirates are running away! The pirates are running away!"
Hope began to rise in each caregiver. Was it over? Finally? After hours of fighting on one side and intensive care on the other? After hours of filling the morgue corridor and writing death certificates for the soldiers' families?
"Akainu! He's going to... He's going to... !"
Murphy froze at the entrance to the emergency service as she went to greet the newly wounded, her gaze fixed on the large screen. A soldier she didn't know at all stood firmly in front of her husband.
"Each of these soldiers has a family waiting for them! We have already accomplished our mission!"
Time had frozen in the Grand Hospital, leaving only the irregular beeps of sophisticated machines to pierce through, as the pink-haired soldier begged for the war to end in front of the admiral.
Murphy saw her husband's gaze. He was going to do it. He had no intention of stopping. His arm was covered in lava, and he had no intention of lowering it.
The soldier before him was nothing but an obstacle to his Absolute Justice.
"This battle is already over!"
The soldier's desperate voice shocked her as she saw her husband approach him, threatening.
"Don't do this Sakazuki… he's a soldier like us… don't do this!" She pleaded as tears blurred her vision.
But she saw him. She saw his arm gain momentum and charge at the pink soldier. She saw that will to kill in his eyes. She saw his fist aim at the young man's face.
And Akagami no Shanks.